Archive:Quick Questions on food safety / sell by / use by dates

Mr_Lahey

I once saw a Gordon Ramsey programme, there was a restaurant that made a huge pan of soup on Sundays and then just kept reheating it all week, i remember GR saying how that gives the best soup.

basil1998

i would freeze it at work if i make aload i freeze it into small portions and if some one wants it take it out

valk_scot

Either you reboil it properly every day (10 minutes minimum at a rolling boil) or freeze it. Reboiling for several days really only works for smooth soups I think...soups with lots of chunky veg pieces tend to go mushy, and not in a nice way.

Plus keeping it in a flask is okay for fresh soup but not elderly soup, tbh. You'll be on the borderline with six day old soup even if you're eating it straight from the boil, let alone have it hanging around for several hours in a flask.

Caterina

Mr_Lahey wrote: »

I once saw a Gordon Ramsey programme, there was a restaurant that made a huge pan of soup on Sundays and then just kept reheating it all week, i remember GR saying how that gives the best soup.

In Rome there is a saying that soup is at its best when it has been reheated 7 times!

ellemm

I personally wouldn't eat soup made with a meat based stock after the third day, something my late mother taught me. I usually make soup, eat some on the day it's made and freeze in portions as mentioned above.

tandraig

its just something my grandmother taught me - if you make stew or soup reheat it every day to boiling point then simmer for twenty minutes. if you add more veg then simmer until the veg is tender and you can keep it for at least a week.
this was before fridges! or domestic freezers. personaly i make soup/stew the day before i want to eat it - heat as above - if anything is left - i freeze it. defrost thoroughly and then reheat to boiling point and simmer for twenty minutes. not killed anyone yet - or even caused tummy upset - in nearly thirty years.

BitterAndTwisted

I'm sure if you bought a prepared soup from the supermarket the "use by" date would be longer than seven days, disregarding how long it was between manufacture and going on the shelf. If it's been in the fridge since it cooled and the fridge is set down cool enough I'd say it would be fine.

elf06

Doesnt really answer your question but I always make my soup and freeze it in portions. I would happily keep it in the fridge for 2 or 3 days but after that I would prefer to freeze

lisa26_2

Thanks for all the replies. I didn't manage to get online to check your answers so I boiled it really well and we are both still here!!! I normally freeze my soup in portions but all of my containers were full and to be honest I didn't expect to have any left by friday!

Raksha

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Goodness knows, if you bought a cooked and chilled stew from the supermarket it would have a shelf-life of at least a week. Ditto the cooked chicken if the fridge is cool enough. It's not like they've been stood in a pantry or anything

Waste not, want not.

Commercially produced cooked and chilled meals are chilled very very quickly, not allowed to cool slowly in a kitchen and then refrigerated, that's how they can have a relatively long shelf life. The rapid chilling means the product is at 'bacteria growing' temps for a very short time, unlike the cooling facilities we have in domestic situations.